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Sage HRMS Canadian Payroll year-end checklist

Whether you are processing T4 forms or installing the latest release, we want to ensure that you have

easy access to all of the information and resources available.

Use this checklist to guide you through preparing your year-end payroll information.

This year-end checklist includes information about downloading product updates, making adjustments,

and processing T4 forms.

Step 1: Download product update

Start by downloading the product update for year-end from the Sage Knowledgebase. For access to the

updates you must have a valid business care plan and log in to support.na.sage.com.

Note: The updates are usually available in the middle of December. We will send you an in-product

message to let you know when your year-end product update is available to download.

Step 2: Update earnings and deductions

Use the Update Earnings/Deductions window to change an earning or deduction rate, amount, start date,

or other field at the employee level.

You can use the Update Earnings/Deductions function to:

Modify the values assigned to employees’ earnings and deductions.

Update single or multiple employee records at once.

Update current employee records (while ignoring terminated and inactive employees).

For more information about updating earnings and deductions:

Review the online help topic Using Update Earnings/Deductions

Review the Knowledgebase article, How to update earnings and deductions (ID 50530)

Step 3: Verify employee tax information

Verify your current year tax information for each employee and update if necessary.

To review TD1 values on each employee’s Taxes detail page in Sage HRMS:

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1. Select Employees > View/Edit Employee > Payroll tab > Employee Payroll > Taxes tab and

review each tax setting (withholding, amount/percent, and so on).

2. To update the tax credits, select a tax from the table, and then click the Tax Info button.

3. Save any changes.

Tip: You can also use the Update TD1 Claim process (Canadian Payroll > Processes) to update

employee tax information.

For more information about updating employee tax information:

Review the online help topic, Using the Update TD1 Claim window

Note that federal, provincial, and territorial personal tax credit amounts may change each year. To

confirm the amounts employees can claim, go to the CRA website: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/.

Step 4: Validate year-end reports and transaction history

With Sage HRMS, year-end requires a little effort to validate the amounts reported for tax filing purposes.

Verify the year-to-date values are correct for gross wages, earnings subject to tax, earnings subject to tax

(no ceiling), employer expense, and employee withholding. Two reports you can use to validate this

information are Earnings and Hours (select Reports > Canadian Payroll > Transaction Reports), and

Tax Calculation Analysis (select Reports > Canadian Payroll > Transaction Reports).

Compare Earnings and Hours to Tax Calculation Analysis

Using the Earnings and Hours and Tax Calculation Analysis reports, select the Report Type of Calendar

Year Totals to retrieve year-to-date information. Use the Report Summary pages and Year To Date

columns in the reports to balance the following taxes:

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If amounts are incorrect, you can use the Transaction History task to make adjustments.

For more information about using Transaction History:

Review the online help topic Using Transaction History

Review the Knowledgebase articles, How to create a transaction history record (ID 47670)

and Transaction history and general ledger (ID 21088)

Step 5: Prepare and file year-end tax forms

Before you start Verify that all employees have the correct province entered on their employee records so the tax files can

be generated. The province of residence and employment must be entered in Sage HRMS on both the

Employees > View/Edit Employee > Payroll tab > Employee Payroll > General and Class/Schd tabs.

To file your T4 forms electronically: 1. Go to Reports > Canadian Payroll > Government Reports > T4s Electronic Filing.

2. Enter or verify all information on both the Employer Info and Transmitter Info 1 windows.

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Enter the social insurance number (SIN) of the 1st Proprietor field. Note that this field is

required in order to process the file (if necessary, the system will accept zeros).

3. Complete all fields on the Transmitter Info II window. Note the following field information:

Transmitter Number/MM Number. No longer required by the CRA. Enter zeros in this

field to continue.

Submission Reference ID. Enter a unique number for your own purposes to identify

each submission you file with CRA. For example, if you have more than one RPP

number, you can include it here.

4. Click Browse to specify where you want to save the file and click Process to create the file.

5. On the CRA website, select T4 by Internet > Filing a T4 Information Return > Internet File

Transfer (XML) > FILE NOW > Enter Secure Site.

6. When prompted, agree with the CRA website terms and conditions to continue.

7. Enter your company’s RPP number.

8. Scroll down on the website to enter the Web Access Code provided to you (the employer) by the

CRA, and click Continue.

9. Select the file you created and saved in Sage HRMS and click the prompts to upload it.

10. Review the website notifications to confirm that the correct number of T4 forms were uploaded

successfully. Print or save the page with confirmation for your records.

Step 6: Close the General Ledger year

To perform year-end processing for your general ledger:

1. Open General Ledger > G/L Periodic Processing > Create New Year.

2. Click Process.

3. When processing finishes, click Close.

4. Open General Ledger > G/L Reports > Batch Status.

5. Print the Batch Status report for the transactions created by the Create New Year screen.

6. Click Close.

7. Open General Ledger > G/L Reports > Posting Journals.

8. Print the posting journal created for the transactions created by the Create New Year screen.

9. Click Close.

10. Open General Ledger > G/L Periodic Processing > Period End Maintenance.

11. Select Delete Inactive Accounts, Delete Transaction Detail History, Delete Fiscal Set

History.

12. Click Process to clear prior-year fiscal sets and transaction details that have been kept for the

number of years specified on the Posting tab of the G/L Options screen.

13. When processing has finished, click Close.

14. Back up your data.

Step 7: Prepare for next year’s payroll

After you complete year-end processing and before you process payroll for the new calendar year,

complete all of the following:

1. Review the tax rates and wage caps for next year’s taxes.

2. Update next year’s tax settings (for example, TD1 information) for employees.

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3. If you need to update employee wage caps, use the Update Earnings/Deductions task to

update the annual and lifetime maximums for multiple or all employees at once.

4. On the Employees > Payroll detail pages, review earnings and deductions that have reached

their maximum amounts. For the earnings and deductions to calculate again this year, set the

Calculate field to Yes.

5. Review accrual balances. You can use the Accruals report (Reports > Canadian Payroll >

Transaction Reports) to validate each employee’s accruals as they were earned and taken by

date.

6. Define the next fiscal year if you haven’t already done so (Setup > Canadian Payroll > Fiscal

Year Calendar).